Stuffing or dressing poll

The new poll asks if you call it stuffing or dressing. Here in our area it is neither. In Pa Dutch Country most people know it as filling. We also have a dish called potato filling. It is mashed potatoes with celery, onions and whatever normally goes in bread filling. I have only seen it baked in a dish, never put in the bird. I never saw potato filling anywhere but here locally.

I had a problem with the poll, too. If it's in the bird, it's stuffing. If it's in a casserole dish, it's dressing. Same exact food, just different preparation. I can't pick one absolute answer between the two.

Also depends on the region of the country.
The Southerners usually call it dressing.
The Northerners usually call it stuffing.
Usually in the South, the "Dressing" is made with Cornbread and it's cooked outside the bird.
The Northern and Midwestern states usually use bread to make "Stuffing" and it's cooked inside the bird.
It's a Tomato -Tomahto thing.
Depending on the region Oysters, Andouille, Pork Sausage, Nuts, Mushrooms, Chiles, Raisins,Chicken or Turkey Gizzards & Livers are added. Knock yourself out! It's all good!

I am from West Virginia & we call it dressing.   Made with bread.  I always make oyster dressing as well as the regular kind. 

claracamille


I am from West Virginia & we call it dressing.   Made with bread.  I always make oyster dressing as well as the regular kind. 

 
How is it that place's like West Va, and Indiana, Ohio that oyster dressing is so popular? Not to many Oysters around those parts. Every year at this time half pt, pt and qt containers start showing up in the stores.

fishtaco

claracamille


I am from West Virginia & we call it dressing.   Made with bread.  I always make oyster dressing as well as the regular kind. 

How is it that place's like West Va, and Indiana, Ohio that oyster dressing is so popular? Not to many Oysters around those parts. Every year at this time half pt, pt and qt containers start showing up in the stores.

Since WV is so mountainous, maybe their Mountain Oysters!!!!

In our family it was always stuffing, in the bird or baked.

Growing up it was always stuffing regardless of how it was prepared, but nowadays I differentiate between stuffing and dressing.  But regardless of which it is I prefer it to be fairly wet with butter, stock, and drippings.
 
Brad

Curmudgeon Hoffman borrowing lleechef's computer: In my family it's all stuffing -- in the bird or out.

They are having this very conversation on The Chew right now! They finally agreed it was a regional thing.

felix4067


I had a problem with the poll, too. If it's in the bird, it's stuffing. If it's in a casserole dish, it's dressing. Same exact food, just different preparation. I can't pick one absolute answer between the two.

 I totally agree.

jeepguy

felix4067


I had a problem with the poll, too. If it's in the bird, it's stuffing. If it's in a casserole dish, it's dressing. Same exact food, just different preparation. I can't pick one absolute answer between the two.

I totally agree.

That's the point! There is no absoute answer!

I grew up using the expression stuffing, and thats what it is to me. However, people say dressing and I know what they mean-and dont argue.

I grew up in Indianapolis.  My parents were from Crawfordsville, IN and central Illinois, respectively.  We called it dressing if it was baked in a casserole (which my father's oyster dressing invariably was, because no one else liked it) and stuffing when it went inside the bird.  My mother never used cornbread -- always stale white bread cubes she made herself --  with sage, poultry seasoning, celery, onions, and sometimes mushrooms.  Never any meat or poultry or citrus fruit or dried fruit or any of those other ingredients.
 
I have no idea why oyster dressing is popular in the landlocked Midwest, but from my father's point of view, no wintertime holiday meal was complete without it.

claracamille


I am from West Virginia & we call it dressing.   Made with bread.  I always make oyster dressing as well as the regular kind. 

 
Hmm, i'm from West Virginia too, and we have always called it stuffing. Guess everybodys different.

fishtaco

claracamille


I am from West Virginia & we call it dressing.   Made with bread.  I always make oyster dressing as well as the regular kind. 

How is it that place's like West Va, and Indiana, Ohio that oyster dressing is so popular? Not to many Oysters around those parts. Every year at this time half pt, pt and qt containers start showing up in the stores.

My recipes for both oyster dressing & scalloped oysters came from my grandmother who lived on a dairy farm in WV.  I remember having fried oysters on Christmas Eve at my great grandmother's.  I asked my mom about the availability of oysters in the countryside.  My mom was born in 1922 & she said she remembered going to the nearest grocery/general store with my grandmother.  In November & December the stores would have barrels of oysters packed in ice.  My grandmother would buy a bucket of oysters at Thanksgiving(oyster dressing) & Christmas(scalloped oysters for Christmas Eve).  

tkitna

claracamille


I am from West Virginia & we call it dressing.   Made with bread.  I always make oyster dressing as well as the regular kind. 

Hmm, i'm from West Virginia too, and we have always called it stuffing. Guess everybodys different.

tkitna,
Where in WV?  My mom & dad both grew up in Mason County,near Point Pleasant.
 

Both of my parents are from the north east so despite growing up in the south, lots of new england words used to fill my vocabulary. To them, stuffing was the filling in the turkey made with seasoned bread. Turkey dressing was what other folks call cranberry sauce, but with whole, cranberries in it and not a solid gel from a can. First place I recall it served as dressing was in a cafeteria served from a steam pan made from corn bread and topped with sliced turkey and covered in gravy.
 
FWIW, when the kids were still under the roof we usually stuffed with red or black beans and rice (congri or morros). Now that we're down to three of us and we try to keep the fat down, I usually go with a bread based "dressing" made outside the bird.

dressing, regardless of how it's prepared.  Oyster dressing is very popular around here, even after the BP spill, folks were willing to pay exorbitant prices for oysters - guess you don't mess with tradition. 

Sorry folks, what you put in the turkey when you roast it is called filling.  How do I know?---that's what my mother called it! (her mother was from PA Dutch country)

claracamille

tkitna

claracamille


I am from West Virginia & we call it dressing.   Made with bread.  I always make oyster dressing as well as the regular kind. 

Hmm, i'm from West Virginia too, and we have always called it stuffing. Guess everybodys different.

tkitna,
Where in WV?  My mom & dad both grew up in Mason County,near Point Pleasant.

Hi Claracamille. I live in Brooke County (Wellsburg) which is up in the Northern Panhandle. A little further north than Wheeling.